Some won by selling more than 100 mid-market homes last year. Others — like our No. 1 Realtor this year — sold fewer than 30 all year, but those they did close were bought or sold for millions of dollars.

After 10 years of bootstrapping their Austin business to be one of the fastest-growing in town — and richest — owners of BuildASign.com have sold part of the company to an institutional investor that promises to keep the growth coming.

The energy storage startup that essentially makes batteries the size of shipping containers for commercial and industrial clients expects to hire as many as 40 people in Austin during the next two years, President and CEO Ron Van Dell said.

In an announcement Wednesday, Gov. Greg Abbott put forward a proposal to eliminate the Emerging Technology Fund and use the ETF's unexpended balances to establish the Governor's University Research Initiative.